Disquieting Truths
by ChristineTheStrawberryGirl
Summary: Ariadne Hall enters her fifth year at Hogwarts with her friends Hermione, Ron, and Harry. This year she'll defy Umbridge, fight the Ministry, and find out who she really is.
1. The End of Summer

**Author's Note:** Hello there! This story was originally published in August 2009 under the title of _Field of Paper Flowers_. Not too long ago I reread the story and found it to be absolutely dreadful. So I've completely rewritten it and have even enlisted the help of a trusty beta. A special thanks to Lillith Nocturne for helping me and being wonderful in general.

**Chapter One**  
><strong>The End of Summer<strong>

For the first time in nearly a fortnight Hammersmith wasn't the victim of a rainstorm. In celebration, almost every resident of Camden Crescent was outside; the young children were playing with their toys, the teenagers were gathered in groups on the lawn, and the mothers were either trying to ascertain the damage the rain had done to their gardens or watching their children with a careful eye to make sure they didn't do anything careless.

Ariadne Hall, however, was in her upstairs bedroom sitting on the end of the window seat with a slew of letters in front of her. She was trying to make sense of the letters that her three best friends had sent her over the summer. From the beginning, Ron Weasley's letters had been extremely vague in regards to both where he and his family were and what they were doing. Hermione's had started out detailed enough but her letters quickly became mysterious, as well. So, Ariadne's main correspondent for the majority of the summer had been Harry, but even his letters became infuriatingly ambiguous after a time.

She had guessed that the three of them were together and she slightly resented the fact that she had not been asked to join them. She figured that it was because they knew her parents, Vergil and Hester, only got the chance to see her in August. Unfortunately the two had had to cancel their visit at the last minute.

Ariadne had been raised by her grandmother due to her parents' job: they travelled all across Europe. They decided, just before Ariadne's birth, that it would be too dangerous for a child and neither Hester nor Vergil was willing to stop working. So, they asked Hester's mother Lucretia to raise their daughter for them and she agreed, happy for another person to be in the house as her second husband had just passed away.

It had been difficult for both Ariadne and Lucretia while Ariadne was growing up, partly because of the large age gap and partly because Lucretia had forgotten the trials that came along with having a young witch in the house, for Lucretia was a muggle and Hester had been the first witch in the family.

"Come downstairs, dear. Your letter from school has arrived," Lucretia called from downstairs.

At this, Ariadne breathed a small sigh of relief; The Hogwarts Express was leaving tomorrow. She supposed that it was because of all the rain that the Hogwarts owls had been delayed but it didn't matter anymore now that she had her booklist and it was still early enough for her grandmother to drive her to the Leaky Cauldron so she could go to Diagon Alley.

* * *

><p>After purchasing all of her books from Flourish and Blotts, Ariadne literally ran into Mrs. Weasley once she had exited the shop.<p>

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Mrs. Weasley!"

"It's perfectly all right, dear," Mrs. Weasley assured her and pulled her into a hug.

Ariadne had always felt enormously attached to Mrs. Weasley and considered her to be a wonderful mother figure, especially since Ariadne rarely saw her own mother.

"You're looking a bit thin," Mrs. Weasley stated after she had assessed Ariadne's frame. "Have you been eating enough?"

"Yes, Mrs. Weasley. My Gran made sure of that," Ariadne laughed.

"We were all so sorry that you couldn't join us this summer," Mrs. Weasley told Ariadne but did not elaborate further on _where_ they had been but Ariadne was sure that it wasn't the Burrow. "Ron made prefect, you know," Mrs. Weasley continued proudly.

"Really?" Ariadne asked, trying not to let her surprise show. That news was completely unexpected. Ron wasn't really a rule breaker per se but he definitely didn't hold the rules to a 'be all, end all' standard.

"That's every Weasley to be a prefect! Well, except for Fred and George," she added as an afterthought.

"Tell him that I said congratulations," Ariadne smiled.

"Of course, dear. We'll all see you at the Platform tomorrow." And Mrs. Weasley left for Madame Malkin's to buy new robes for Ron.

* * *

><p>Dragging her trunk at King's Cross to the spot between Platforms 9 and 10 was harder this year than Ariadne remembered. She wondered, now, if packing so many books that weren't for school was the best idea, but, as it was too late to do anything now, she trudged on.<p>

After crossing the platform, she saw that there was only 15 minutes until the train was to leave and she set about looking for the Weasleys. It wasn't difficult and within moments she found a group of redheads, accompanied by Hermione, Harry, Lupin, Mad-Eye Moody, a dog that had to be Sirius, and a young woman with bright pink hair that Ariadne had never met before. As she walked over to them, she idly wondered why so many people had come with the Weasleys to the Platform. She hoped that Hermione, Harry, and Ron would answer this question on the train ride as well as explaining to her where the hell they had all been this summer.

"Ariadne!" Hermione exclaimed. She was the first one of the group to notice that Ariadne was making her way over to them and met her with a hug.

"Good summer?" Ariadne asked as they walked to the group, hoping she didn't sound bitter. While she understood why they didn't ask her to join them, she was still a bit upset that they hadn't.

Hermione blushed and sheepishly said that she had. Ariadne was greeted enthusiastically by everyone and was introduced to Tonks by Ginny.

"I've heard a lot about you," Tonks told her with a smile as they shook hands.

"All the bad stuff's a lie," Ariadne grinned and turned to Ron. "Why haven't you got your prefect badge on?" she chided, causing Fred and George to snicker and Ron's ears to turn pink.

The train sounded and everyone set to board said their goodbyes before making their way to the entrance.

"I made prefect as well," Hermione told Ariadne happily as they waited to board.

Mrs. Weasley had not mentioned that.

"Well, that's no surprise. I would think Dumbledore and McGonagall mental if they didn't make you prefect," Ariadne smiled before lowering her voice so no one but Hermione could hear her. "I was a bit surprised at Ron being chosen, however. With the two of you having authority we'll never get to do anything fun."

Hermione and Ariadne laughed at this before Hermione turned serious.

"Have you been reading the _Daily Prophet_?" Hermione asked as the two of them boarded the train.

"You know I haven't," Ariadne replied before a thought suddenly hit her. "Does that have anything to do with where you three were all summer?"

Hermione, however, avoided the question. "The _Prophet_'s been portraying Harry as a sort of lunatic because of what happened at The Triwizard Tournament. Fudge refuses to believe Harry and Dumbledore that You-Know-Who's back and since the Ministry controls the _Prophet_…"

Ariadne didn't get a chance to respond. Harry and the Weasleys had now boarded as well and were making their way to the two of them before they all separated to find a compartment.

"Sirius shouldn't have come with us," Hermione said worriedly once they were all together.

Ariadne discreetly rolled her eyes at her friend's concern. Sirius had been in his animagus form, which no one but a small group of people would recognize.

"Shall we go and find a compartment, then?" Harry asked once Fred and George had left to go find their friend Lee Jordan.

"Yes," Ariadne said quickly, grabbing hold of her trunk. "I'll go ahead and find one so they don't all fill up. I'll see you in a bit," she told them and walked off.

Unfortunately most of the compartments had already filled up. "I guess we'll have to sit in the back of the train," she thought with a sigh as she walked towards the last set of compartments. And coming up to the last compartment, Ariadne saw Neville Longbottom standing outside the door.

"Is that one filled up as well?" Ariadne asked with dread. If it was, she would have to split up from Harry, Ron, and Hermione for the entire ride back to Hogwarts.

"No, I just don't want to disturb her," Neville mumbled.

Perplexed, Ariadne looked and saw that only one person was inside the compartment, a 4th year Ravenclaw by the name of Luna Lovegood. Ariadne didn't know much about the girl other than she was friendly with Ginny and that was good enough for her.

"Suit yourself," Ariadne shrugged as she entered the compartment.

"I hope you don't mind me sitting here," Ariadne politely told Luna, who was reading a magazine called _The Quibbler_ upside down.

"No, it's all right," Luna replied dreamily from behind the magazine.

"Excited for Fourth Year?" Ariadne asked after a bit. She knew that she was probably being a bother but she hated awkward silences and being alone with Luna was becoming one.

"Yes. Oh, you're Ariadne Hall," the girl said once she had put her magazine away and finally looked at who she was sitting in the compartment with. "Ginny's said nice things about you."

Ariadne smiled. "What's that you were reading?" She could tell that it wasn't a muggle magazine from the articles mentioned on the front cover of the issue that Luna had been looking at but Ariadne had never heard of it. Then again, she had never heard of a lot of things having to do with the magical world since growing up in the muggle world.

"_The Quibbler_," Luna supplied with as much enthusiasm as possible without losing the dreamy quality of her voice. "My father is the editor and publisher."

Before Ariadne had the chance to question further on what sort of magazine it was, Luna picked the magazine back up and resumed reading it upside down. It was evident that the conversation was boring her. Harry soon entered the compartment with Ginny and Neville, who had apparently been convinced to sit with them. "Prefect Duty" was the only explanation Harry offered in regards to where Ron and Hermione were. As much as she wanted to, Ariadne knew she couldn't question Harry about what had happened over the summer on the train because of their company so she tried to make herself content in her seat.

"You'll never guess who's the Slytherin prefect," Ron said upon entering the compartment with Hermione nearly an hour later.

"Malfoy," Harry said quickly, which was the right answer since Ron merely nodded his head.

"And that cow Pansy Parkinson is the girl prefect," Hermione told them viciously from her seat beside Ariadne.

"Who are the other prefects?" Ariadne asked curiously.

"Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott for Hufflepuff," Ron told her.

"And Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil for Ravenclaw," Hermione finished.

Other than the Slytherin prefects, Ariadne didn't really mind who had been chosen but she would have hated the Slytherin prefects no matter who they were. She wasn't all that friendly with the others but definitely didn't dislike them, although Padma had become quite annoying last year after attending the Yule Ball with Ron. In her defense, Ron hadn't treated her all that well but that still didn't make it any less frustrating when she and Parvati had kept asking her if they knew why Harry and Ron had even asked them in the first place when neither danced with them.

"How was your summer?" Hermione asked while Ron and Harry continued on about Malfoy being a prefect and what Ron would do to the Slytherins now that he had some authority.

"It was okay, I guess. Mum and Dad had to cancel their visit at the last second, though."

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Did they say why?"

"The usual reason, travelling," Ariadne replied a bit bitterly. "But I think the most important question is what you did this summer."

"I promise I'll tell you later tonight. It's not exactly something that can be said around people who don't know," Hermione told her cryptically before turning back to see Harry looking through Luna's copy of _The Quibbler_, which she eyed critically.

"Anything good in there?" Ron asked once Harry had closed the magazine.

"Of course not," Hermione answered before Harry could have a chance. Not seeing Ariadne's warning look, she went on. "The Quibbler's rubbish, everyone knows that."

"My father's the editor," Luna told Hermione coldly, all the dreamy and vague quality of her voice gone.

"Well, I mean…it has some interesting…" Hermione tried to backpedal but it was too late.

"I'll have it back, thank you," Luna said as she snatched the magazine out of Harry's hand.

The rest of the train ride was spent in a tense atmosphere and Ariadne was therefore relieved when they arrived at Hogwarts. Ron and Hermione left the carriage first so they could help shepherd the First Years to the boats that would take them to the school.

"So I know that this is O.W.L. year," Ariadne started to Harry as the two of them walked ahead of Ginny, Neville, and Luna in the corridor towards the doors, "but do you know what to expect?" Harry merely shook his head.

The two of them stepped down onto the platform and were met with a surprise. Hagrid was not the one calling the First Years' attention but rather Professor Grubbly-Plank.

"Where's Hagrid?" Harry asked, voicing Ariadne's question.

"I don't know," Ginny said from behind them, "but we'd better get moving. We're blocking the door."

Ariadne was separated from Harry and Ginny while she tried to safely shuffle through the crowd of students. Since she was taller than the majority, she tried to use that to her advantage but came up with no results. Seeing that most of the students were already beginning to form a queue in order to grab a carriage, Ariadne slowly made her way over there but kept an eye out for one of her friends.

Only about half of the horseless carriages were left when Ariadne finally spotted Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. Waving them over, Ariadne went on into the nearest coach in order to ensure that they had one. Hermione and Ginny came in first, talking about the upcoming term, followed by Harry, Ron, and Luna.

"What's wrong?" Ariadne asked Harry a few moments later. He was constantly looking out of the window and had barely said a word.

"Nothing," he told her quietly, not taking his eyes off the window.

"Hermione just told me this morning about what _The Daily Prophet_ and Fudge have been saying," Ariadne told him just as quietly. "But you know that not everyone feels that way, yeah? Hermione, Ron, and I believe you and I'm sure that Ginny and Neville do as well."

"Yeah," Harry said but Ariadne could tell that he wasn't really listening.

* * *

><p>My beta mentioned to me that Molly seemed a bit OOC in the first draft and I tried to fix it, but let me know if you think she's still out of character.<p> 


	2. An Interesting Welcome

**Author's Note:** Hello there to the few readers I've gained! My plan is to upload a new chapter every Friday. Anyway, thanks again to Lillith for being my first reviewer :) Also, I got my Pottermore email! Woohoo.

**Chapter Two **  
><strong>An Interesting Welcome<strong>

Walking to the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, Ariadne noticed, yet again, that Hagrid was nowhere to be found. All of the school's other professors, except for McGonagall, were sitting at the staff table in the front of the hall. Ariadne hoped nothing had happened to him; Hagrid had never exactly been Fudge's favourite member of the Hogwarts staff and only kept Hagrid around at Dumbledore's insistence. However, with Fudge apparently trying to pass off the Headmaster as some sort of crackpot, the ministry may have somehow superseded Dumbledore's authority and fired the Care of Magical Creatures professor.

"Who's that?" Hermione asked sharply once they sat down. She was pointing towards the staff table.

Ariadne turned at the same moment Harry and Ron. Distracted by wondering where Hagrid was, she had not noticed the woman that Hermione was referring to, though Ariadne wondered how that was possible. Her horrible pink cardigan seemed to be drawing quite a few people's attention. Even though the woman was sitting down Ariadne could tell that she was extremely short and squat. She also had the unfortunate resemblance of a toad.

"It's that Umbridge woman!" Harry said in slight disbelief.

"Who?" Ariadne and Hermione asked at the same time.

"She works for Fudge," he explained. "She was at my hearing."

"What hearing?" Ariadne asked quickly. What had gone on this summer?

"Later," Hermione whispered from beside her. Before Ariadne had time to argue, McGonagall walked in with the Sorting Hat in hand with a line of first years shuffling in behind her.

Ariadne inwardly grimaced. She had never told anyone before that her experience with the Sorting Hat, while memorable, wasn't exactly something she looked back on with pleasure. The hat had called her 'Miss Gray' almost as soon as it had been placed on her head by Professor McGonagall. Ariadne, of course, kept trying to tell it that her last name was Hall but the Sorting Hat simply ignored her while figuring out which house she belonged in.

Everyone became quiet when the Sorting Hat began its song. This year's song was a bit different to say the least. It started out normal enough with the Hat briefly explaining what each House valued but then the song turned to include the story of the Founders fighting and the school never quite getting back to its united front after Slytherin left. The song ended with the warning that 'Hogwarts is in danger from external, deadly foes and we must unite inside her or we'll crumble from within'.

"Branched out a bit this year," Ron commented once the song was over.

"Do you think it's ever given warnings before?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"I'm sure that it's - " Ariadne began but was interrupted by Nearly Headless Nick.

"The hat feels itself honor-bound to give the school due warning whenever it feels like it."

Nick didn't get a chance to continue, for McGonagall almost instantly quieted the entire Hall with a scathing look.

Once the sorting began Ariadne quickly became bored. The Sorting Hat, in most cases, took a good while to decide what house the person whose head it was on belonged to. Watching the sorting mostly consisted of seeing an old hat on an eleven-year-old's head for a few minutes and it always managed to seem like hours.

Ariadne looked at Hermione and saw that her friend was paying close attention to the sorting, causing Ariadne to roll her eyes. Of course Hermione was paying attention.

The two had been friends since the train ride their first year. Ariadne's parents had sent her an old copy of _Hogwarts, A History_ in early August as a way to make up for not being able to visit – in Ariadne's 15 years, her parents had not been able to visit much more often than they had been able to – and she was reading it when Hermione walked into her compartment asking if she could sit with her. The two bonded over being brought up in the muggle world and the whole train ride to school was spent with Hermione sharing what she had learned through her extensive reading and Ariadne telling her what little her parents had told her on their rare summer visits.

The two stayed thick as thieves, Ariadne comforting Hermione in the girls' lavatory on Halloween when the latter had overheard Ron insulting her. Much to their horror and shock, a troll walked in. Being first years, neither had any clue as to what to do. Luckily, Harry and Ron saved them by knocking the troll out. After that, the four of them had become inseparable.

Ariadne had no idea what she would do without her three best friends. She and Hermione would often study and do their homework together but Ariadne was nowhere near as smart as Hermione, nor did she take her schoolwork quite as seriously. Still, she received high enough marks to be considered slightly above average but wasn't even near the top of their year. Ariadne considered Ron to be like the brother she never had, often joking with him and he was protective towards her like he was with Ginny. That much had become clear in their third year when a fourth year Hufflepuff named Matthias Crowne had asked Ariadne to come to Hogsmeade with him on Valentine's Day. Ron, who was nearby when Ariadne had been asked, began asking Matthias all sorts of embarrassing questions and even went so far as to threaten to hex the boy if he did anything out of line. Not to Ariadne's surprise, the boy stood her up on Valentine's Day. As for Harry, Ariadne tended to stick up for him when he would come up with an idea that Ron and Hermione disagreed with.

Once the sorting was finished Dumbledore stood from the staff table to greet them before the feast. To Ariadne's relief, his words were few; she was beginning to become hungry and was afraid that if he spoke for too long that her stomach would rumble during his speech.

"What were you saying before the sorting?" Hermione asked Nick almost as soon as Dumbledore had stopped speaking. "About the hat giving warnings?"

"The hat has given several warnings in the past, usually whenever it detects danger for the school. It's always the same: Stand united, be strong from within."

"How can it detect danger?" Ariadne asked, swallowing a bite of her pork chop. "I mean, it is only a hat."

"I've no idea," Nick responded, "but it does stay in Dumbledore's office all the time so I daresay it picks up on quite a few things."

"The Sorting Hat wants all the houses to be friends?" Harry asked rhetorically. "Fat chance."

Ariadne had to agree with that statement. It wasn't just the Slytherins and Gryffindors that hated each other, it was the Slytherins and every other house. Although she knew it was probably possible for a Slytherin to be nice, Ariadne had yet to meet one who wasn't a right git.

"Terrified of the Bloody Baron?" Nick asked, horrified at Ron's comment that he was. "I hope I, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, have never been guilty of cowardice in my life! The noble blood that runs in my veins - "

"What blood?" Ron asked. "Surely you still haven't got any."

Ariadne snorted into her pumpkin juice and, as a result, had a small coughing fit while Nick, annoyed, told them that he was used to students laughing and poking fun at his death. Hermione tried to fix the situation to no avail.

"Well done," Hermione snapped at Ron when Nick had left.

"What? I'm not allowed to ask a simple question anymore?"

"Oh, never mind," Hermione huffed before turning to face Ariadne as a way to make the point that she was finished talking to Ron. "Are you continuing on with Arithmancy?"

"Yes," Ariadne answered a bit timidly. She didn't want it to look like she was taking a side in her and Ron's bickering but Ron was too busy stuffing his mouth with food to appear like he cared.

"I was reading through the book for this year and I think we're going to have to use several new charts," Hermione told her. "I wonder if Professor Vector will give us a copy on our first day or if she'll make us wait until we get to the unit that the chart's first introduced."

Ariadne simply shrugged and dessert was spent in relative silence. She couldn't help but notice, then, the conversations between the other Gryffindors. A few people had whispered that their parents hadn't wanted them to come back to Hogwarts this year. Ariadne wondered what that was about but didn't get much time to ponder it before the food disappeared and Dumbledore stood up again to give his speech.

The Hall instantly quieted and turned to look at the Headmaster. He began by telling the first years and reminding the older students various rules and regulations that Filch had asked him to repeat before welcoming Grubbly-Plank as Care of Magical Creatures Professor, which caused Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ariadne to exchange panicked looks.

"We are also delighted to welcome Professor Umbridge, who will be taking over Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Dumbledore then continued to inform everyone interested in trying out for Quidditch when the tryouts would be before breaking off, giving Umbridge an inquiring look. Ariadne herself gave Dumbledore a quizzical look, not knowing why he had suddenly stopped. However, once Umbridge falsely cleared her throat it became apparent that she had gotten to her feet with the intent of giving her own speech.

"Merlin, she's short," Ariadne mumbled. Originally no one had noticed Umbridge standing because she was only a bit taller while she was standing than she had been sitting.

Every student had a look of bewilderment upon their face, even the Slytherins. No one had ever interrupted Dumbledore before. The Headmaster only looked taken aback for a moment before sitting down and giving Umbridge such an alert look that Ariadne briefly wondered if it was sarcastic. The other professors, however, were unable to hide their surprise at the interruption.

"Thank you Professor Dumbledore," Umbridge began with an annoyingly coy smile on her face, "for those kind words of welcome. It is lovely to be back at Hogwarts! And to see such happy faces looking back at me."

Ariadne glanced sideways to the Ravenclaw table, not wanting to make it obvious she was looking around. Most of the Ravenclaws she saw had the same expression Ariadne was sure was on her own face: an irritated frown.

"I am very much looking forward to getting to know each and every one of you, and I'm sure we'll be such great friends."

Hermione broke away from paying attention to share a quick glance with Ariadne before turning back to Umbridge. Ariadne noticed several students had given up paying attention at this point, whispering to their friends about what Umbridge had said so far.

"I'll be her friend as long as she doesn't make me wear that horrible cardigan," Ariadne overheard Parvati whisper to Lavender Brown, causing Ariadne to grin.

Umbridge, noticing the attention of her students waning and wanting to continue on, cleared her throat again and her tone had become suddenly businesslike. However, most students continued on with not paying attention and either let their minds drift off or whisper quietly to their friends.

Ariadne paid attention out of pure curiosity, wondering what on earth Umbridge thought was so important as to interrupt Dumbledore. What she heard, however, was incredibly displeasing. As Harry had said, Umbridge was from the Ministry. She told the staff and students (the ones that were listening, anyway) that certain traditions were to not be tampered with but progress where progress was needed was required. It was clear to Ariadne that the Ministry had finally been able to interfere and was keen, now that they had accomplished that, to make changes.

"Yes, that speech was most illuminating," Hermione said quietly once Umbridge had finished her speech and Dumbledore continued on with his.

"You enjoyed that?" Ron asked, slightly aghast. "That was the dullest speech I've ever heard in my entire life, and I grew up with Percy."

"I said illuminating, not enjoyable," Hermione snapped. "It explained a lot."

"Like what?" asked Harry.

"The Ministry is interfering at Hogwarts," Hermione told him through gritted teeth. "Didn't you hear her? 'Progress for progress's sake must be discoraged'".

"Don't forget 'pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited'," Ariadne added. "That was my favourite part."

"What do you think'll happen, then?" Harry asked.

"I have no idea," Hermione told him honestly. "Definitely nothing now, though, since she doesn't have much authority. She is still only a professor."

A loud noise was heard and Ariadne noticed almost all the students getting up from their seats; Dumbledore had apparently dismissed everyone.

"We're supposed to show the first years where to go," Hermione told Ron.

"Oh, all right," he responded and grudgingly got up from his seat.

Harry and Ariadne didn't leave their seats, waiting for the crowd to disperse before making their way to the common room. Ariadne smiled as she saw all of the first years shyly walk in groups, all hesitant to lead since no one knew where they were going. She noticed, however, that the first years having to pass the Gryffindor table looked terrified upon seeing Harry.

Harry didn't seem to notice until a small group of Hufflepuffs passed him and looked at him with a horrified glance.

"Let's go," Harry muttered to Ariadne, no longer caring about getting stuck in the small group still crowded around the doors.


	3. Mondays Are the Worst

**Author's Note:** Happy Friday, everyone! I would like to thank the people who read this story. It means a lot to me!

**Chapter Three  
>Mondays Are the Worst<strong>

As the two walked out of the Great Hall and towards the Gryffindor common room, Ariadne noticed that it wasn't just the first years looking at Harry and whispering. Of course, people were always looking at Harry but it was different this time. Instead of looking at him with awe, people were now wearing frightened looks on their faces.

The Triwizard Tournament had ended with Harry carrying the dead body of Cedric Diggory and, on the afternoon everyone was set to go home, Dumbledore announced that Voldemort had returned and killed Cedric. Ariadne knew that it was for this that the _Daily Prophet_ was portraying Harry and Dumbledore as nutters but she hadn't expected this many people to buy into it.

"What do you think about Umbridge teaching here?" Ariadne asked Harry, hoping to keep his mind off of everyone staring at him.

"She wasn't exactly pleasant at my hearing," Harry told her as they came up to the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Oh, bugger!" Ariadne groaned. "Do you, by any chance, know the password?"

Harry shook his head as the Fat Lady loftily told them they couldn't enter without it.

Luckily, Neville jogged up to them excitedly saying that he might actually remember the password this time since it was the name of some plant. Neville was absolutely horrible at remembering the passwords and was often forced to stand in the corridor until another Gryffindor came along to let him in.

With the reminder of Harry's hearing fresh on her mind, Ariadne instantly bombarded him with demands to know what had happened with everyone this summer. Leading her to a back corner, Harry told her everything: Dementors had shown up around his house and, to protect himself and his cousin, Harry had to cast a Patronus charm. Unfortunately, he was then contacted by the Ministry that underage magic was illegal and he was to attend a hearing with the Wizenagamot. Mad-Eye Moody then showed up at his house and took him to Sirius Black's house, which was the headquarters to a group called the Order of the Phoenix, which was devoted to stopping Voldemort.

"Luckily Dumbledore showed up at my hearing to defend me and they didn't expel me," Harry finished.

"But Umbridge was one of the ones pushing for you to be expelled and have your wand destroyed, right? I'd watch out for her, Harry."

"How was your summer?" Harry asked in attempt to change the subject.

"Boring compared to yours, that's for sure. I just hung around, mostly. My parents didn't get to come for their visit but that's nothing new."

"Sorry that we didn't ask you to stay with us. If we had known your parents weren't going to show up - "

"It's fine, Harry," Ariadne smiled. "I'm just glad we're all back."

"I'm definitely happy to be back," Harry said. "I think I'm going to go to the dormitories. Goodnight, Ariadne."

"Goodnight," Ariadne called after him.

Not long after Harry had left, Ron and Hermione entered the common room with a small group of frazzled looking first years.

"It took you two all this time to get to the common room?" Ariadne asked once the two had reached where she was sitting in the corner.

"One of the boys kept wandering off," Hermione told her with a sigh.

"And all the other ones kept asking about Harry," Ron said irritably.

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Ariadne asked curiously. "I know the _Prophet_'s been trying to make him come across as a complete nutter but what exactly have they been saying?"

"That he's some attention-seeking person who's under the delusion that he's a great tragic hero," Hermione told her. "They've gotten quite nasty on occasion. Obviously, they keep denying that You-Know-Who's back and that Dumbledore's only insisting that he is because he believe what ever Harry tells him."

* * *

><p>Reaching the empty girls' dormitory for her year, Ariadne sat on the bed that her trunk had been put closest to. When she had left to go up the stairs, Hermione was keeping an eye on the Weasley twins and Parvati and Lavender were sitting together, most likely gossiping.<p>

At the end of the feast, Ariadne simply wasn't too sure about Umbridge, but after hearing about her actions during Harry's hearing she was positive that her classes would be an absolute nightmare. Ariadne only hoped that fifth years didn't meet first thing tomorrow so she would be able to ask someone in another year how their lesson went before walking into the lion's den.

While her mind was on the subject of classes, Ariadne also began to wonder what her schedule would be like. She was taking the seven core classes required until N.E.W.T year as well as Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy with Hermione; Ariadne had dropped Divination after third year also like Hermione but she had waited until the end of the year to tell McGonagall that she no longer wished to continue on with the subject. Divination was a subject that, really, you couldn't study for. Simply reading your book and doing the homework didn't assure that you would pass and that's what Ariadne hated about it.

Even though she wasn't brilliant at school, Ariadne actually liked it. This was something Ron often poked fun at her for and said that he thought it was possible for her and Hermione to be long-lost twins and is she sure she wasn't adopted. Unless Hermione was the one that was adopted, Ariadne was positive that the two weren't related since Ariadne had inherited several of her grandmother's facial features.

"Ariadne, it's time to wake up," Hermione's voice called, bringing Ariadne out of her slumber.

"What time is it?" Ariadne asked groggily as she wiped the sleep from her eyes.

"Nearly time for breakfast to start! We don't want to be running late on the first day of term."

"I wouldn't mind," Ariadne replied a bit grumpily. She never had been a morning person and often had to rely on Hermione to wake her up.

"Just hurry up!" Hermione demanded as she left the dormitory.

Ariadne sighed and slowly walked to her wardrobe for her uniform. After putting on her skirt and buttoning up her shirt, Ariadne stood in front of the mirror to make sure that everything looked wrinkle-free enough to not cause Hermione to nag at her.

She also took this time to study her features to see if she looked as if she had only just woken. Her large, round blue eyes stared back at her before moving down slightly to her other features. Yes, Ariadne had definitely inherited most of Lucretia's sharp facial features: strong jaw line, high cheekbones, Roman nose. However, Ariadne had broad shoulders while Lucretia had more rounded shoulders. Ariadne turned to the side to see her body's profile. She wasn't exactly what one would call slender but she had never considered herself to be chubby.

_Stop worrying so much,_ Ariadne told herself, gathering her book bag. _It's useless_.

Ariadne trudged down the stairs, her feet feeling heavy. She was waiting by the portrait hole when Ron and Harry came down from their dormitory, Harry looking angry.

"What's the matter?" Ariadne asked as Hermione caught up with the three of them.

"You look absolutely – " Hermione started upon seeing Harry up-close but she became distracted by a sign on the bulletin board that had been put up by Fred and George advertising for 'simple, part-time, virtually painless' jobs.

"We'll have to talk to them," Hermione told Ron as they all walked out of the portrait hole towards the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Why?" He asked, alarmed at the possibility of him having to attempt to punish his older brothers. They would absolutely slaughter him, Ariadne knew.

"Because we're prefects," Hermione told him matter-of-factly. "Anyway, Harry, what's wrong?"

"Seamus reckons Harry's lying about You-Know-Who," Ron answered when Harry didn't.

"Yes, Lavender thinks so too," Hermione said a bit sadly.

"Yeah? Having a chat about what an attention-seeking prat I am?" Harry asked vindictively.

"No, I told her to keep her fat mouth shut," Hermione told him calmly. "And I do wish you'd stop biting our heads off, Harry. In case you haven't noticed, we are on your side."

Hermione had told Ariadne last night before Parvati and Lavender had come up that Harry was incredibly moody over the summer. In fact, he had yelled at the two of them for not telling him about the Order of the Phoenix sooner when he met them at Sirius's house.

"Try not knowing for the entire summer," Ariadne had muttered.

"Forget about school unity, let's just go for house unity," Ariadne lamely joked as a way to diffuse the awkwardness after the four of them had continued on their way to the Great Hall but was only met by a glare from Harry and a slightly exasperated look from Hermione. Looking to her left, though, she saw Ron trying to hide a grin.

They made it to the Gryffindor table without any further incidents and began eating their breakfasts. Harry, Ron, and Hermione began talking about something but Ariadne had tiredly spaced out almost as soon as she had sat down. Sure, Harry had every right to be angry with the people that refused to believe him but to go after his own friends? He had to have known that they, of all people, knew he was telling the truth.

"Ariadne? Are you paying attention?" Hermione called from across the table.

"Yes," Ariadne lied as she tuned in to the end of their conversation on why Hermione still subscribed to the Daily Prophet.

"How about today? Any new false developments in the ongoing tale of Harry Potter, the Boy Who Seeks Attention?" Ariadne asked Hermione dryly.

"Not a thing."

Before anything else could be said, McGonagall walked over to the four of them and handed over their schedules. After studying it thoroughly, Ariadne groaned and began complaining with Ron.

"History of Magic and double Potions before lunch! This is the worst first day we've ever had here."

"At least you don't have Divination today," Ron told her with a frown. "I don't know if I can take Trelawney on a Monday. I wish Fred and George'd hurry up with their Skiving Snackboxes. I'd definitely take one now given half the chance."

Fred and George came over to them, presumably after hearing their names, and offered Ron a cheap Nosebleed Nougat but he smartly declined after hearing his brothers had yet to develop an antidote.

"You can't advertise for testers on the Gryffindor notice board," Hermione told the twins, which they merely shrugged off.

"You'll be singing a different tune soon enough," Fred told her. "This is your fifth year. Give it enough time and you'll be begging for a Skiving Snackbox."

"What does fifth year have to do with anything?" Ariadne asked.

"Fifth year's your O.W.L. year, isn't it?" George asked, looking at her.

"So?" Hermione asked.

"So you've got your exams coming up," Fred said. "They'll be keeping your noses so hard to the grindstone that they'll be raw by the end of the year."

"Half our year had minor breakdowns. Tears and tantrums," George told them happily.

Ariadne was now beginning to become anxious and term had only just officially started. She had always managed to do well enough on her end-of-year exams but, according to Fred and George, O.W.L.s were given by Ministry officials and could cover anything you had learned for that class since first year.

"Is all that true about your O.W.L.s?" Harry asked after the twins had left.

"Bound to be," Ron answered. "What O.W.L.s you pass affect what jobs you can take after you leave. Bill told me that we're even getting career advice later this year to pick what N.E.W.T classes we want to take."

"Do you know what you want to go after we leave?" Harry asked as they got up from their seats to head to History of Magic.

Ariadne had absolutely no idea what she wanted to do after Hogwarts. Of course, she wasn't really sure what jobs there even were in the wizarding community. She had heard of Aurors from Ron and various other Ministry jobs. She had briefly read about the occupation of Healer and thought that that had sounded cool but she wasn't sure what O.W.L.s she would need to pass.

* * *

><p>History of Magic was the most boring class in the history of the school. Ariadne wondered if it was because of Binns but knew that even a lively professor probably wouldn't be able to increase interest amongst the students, if only due to the way the textbook was written. She fought to keep awake but managed, knowing that if Hermione ever became upset with either Ron or Harry they would be forced to rely on her notes even though they were never as detailed as Hermione's.<p>

Something interesting occurred while the four of them walked to the dungeons for double Potions, though. Cho Chang had spotted Harry while they crossed the courtyard from opposite directions and she started talking to him.

Ariadne and Hermione shared a happy look. It was so obvious that Harry had a crush on Cho and they both knew it was a good sign that Cho was talking to him despite what everyone was saying about Harry. She was obviously a sensible girl, Ariadne felt.

Their happy look turned into one of shock, however, when Ron intervened and began accusing Cho of only supporting some Quidditch team whose badge she was wearing on her robes because they had recently begun winning the league.

"See you, Harry," Cho said quickly, probably anxious to get away from Ron.

"Oh, you have no tact at all!" Hermione rounded on Ron once Cho had walked out of earshot.

"What? I was only asking if she supported the Tornadoes."

"Didn't you see that she wanted to talk to Harry _on his own_?"

"I wasn't stopping her."

"That's the bell," Harry told them when it rang, for Ron and Hermione had been arguing so loudly that neither had heard it. That didn't stop their bickering but they at least walked on so as to not be late to Potions.

"What is the matter with those two?" Ariadne asked Harry, watching Ron and Hermione walking in front of her with a wary eye. "I don't think they've ever bickered this much."

"I don't know," Harry replied tersely, still irritated at Ron for ruining his conversation with Cho.

"But hey," Ariadne began brightly, "at least we know that Cho's on your side. That definitely counts for something!"

"Yeah," Harry smiled.

All of the fifth year Gryffindors and Slytherins entered the dimly lighted dungeon classroom, Harry and Ariadne sitting at a table in the very back between Ron and Hermione. Snape entered the classroom shortly after everyone had taken a seat and icily told them all to settle down but there was no real need since everyone had quieted upon hearing the door close.

Ariadne felt that if anyone other than Snape taught Potions she would like the subject a lot more than she currently did. Even Binns would make her like the class better. She found Potions to be fascinating; it was almost limitless in what you could accomplish with a simple potion.

Just like Professor Binns had, Snape started off the class by reminding everyone that this was their O.W.L year. He expected everyone to pass their Potions O.W.L or else they would suffer his 'displeasure'; as he was saying that, Ariadne noticed Snape's gaze linger on Neville. He also mentioned that he only accepted the students with the highest marks into his N.E.W.T class and that this could possibly be the last year for some students; at this, Snape looked directly at Harry.

After his lecture, which Ariadne could not decide if it was Snape attempting to be encouraging or threatening, he told the class that they would be brewing the Draught of Peace, put the instructions on the board, opened the storage cupboard, and let them work except to announce how far everyone should be every now and then.

Ariadne's potion, she knew, was not anywhere near as perfect as Hermione's. In fact, it was a bit of a mess. Looking around at the other Gryffindors' cauldrons, Ariadne saw with relief that hers was definitely not the worst. The concoction was supposed to be emitting a silver vapor but Ariadne's vapors were more white and smoke-like.

"Tell me, Potter, can you read?" Snape asked after stopping in front of Harry.

_He's not Crabbe or Goyle,_ Ariadne desperately wanted to mutter but refrained.

"Yes," Harry replied tensely.

Looking into the cauldron Harry had been using, Ariadne saw that his potion was emitting dark steam in such a vast amount that she was a bit surprised the whole room hadn't become foggy. Harry grudgingly admitted that he had forgotten an ingredient, which Snape said now made the potion worthless and caused the entire cauldron to empty.

"I can't believe Snape did that," Ariadne told Harry as she, Hermione, and Ron sat down at the Gryffindor table. Harry had already started his lunch since he had gotten a few minutes' head start; not needing to turn in a vial to Snape he had been the first to leave the dungeon once the bell had rung.

"It was really unfair," Hermione said sympathetically as she helped herself to Shepherd's Pie.

"Since when has Snape been fair to me?" Harry asked a bit sarcastically.

"I just thought it would be different this year," Hermione responded after a small pause and looked around to make sure no one was listening to the four of them before continuing. "I mean, since he's in the Order."

"Poisonous toadstools don't change their spots," Ron said. "I always thought Dumbledore was a bit mad for trusting him. How do we know he really hasn't stopped working for You-Know-Who?"

Ariadne inwardly groaned. She could tell by Ron's tone and Hermione's reaction that this was probably going to end in an argument between the two; there had been so many within the past few years that she was getting pretty good at sensing when one was about to start.

"Dumbledore trusts him," Ariadne interjected before anything else could be said in hopes that the conversation would stop. "That's good enough for me."

"Dumbledore probably has plenty of reasons to trust Snape," Hermione snapped, "even though he doesn't share those reasons with you, Ron."

"Shut up, the two of you," Harry said to Ron and Hermione as loudly as he could without drawing onlookers. "You two are constantly bickering and it's driving me mad. Give it a rest!" He grabbed his schoolbag and left the table, leaving Ariadne, Ron, and Hermione to watch his retreating figure.

"What's his problem?" Ron asked after a few moments.

"I hate to say it but he's right," Ariadne gently told her two friends sitting across from her. "You two have been bickering more than usual lately, although I don't think he went about telling you in the right way."

"You don't say," Ron replied.

"Even so, it doesn't excuse _his _recent behavior," Hermione said as she finished her lunch and grabbed her schoolbag. "I do wish he would stop taking his temper out on us. Ready for Arithmancy, Ariadne?"

"Yeah," she replied getting up from the table and slinging her bag over her shoulder. "We'll see you in a bit, Ron."

"What do you think's wrong with Harry?" Hermione asked her friend as they walked down the seventh floor corridor.

"He's angry," Ariadne wryly replied.

"I _know _that. What I'm asking you is if you think it's merely because of how everyone's been treating him or something else?"

"What else could it be?"

"Well," Hermione started, "it's just that I don't think I've ever seen him this angry before and, really, the only thing I can think of that's different is You-Know-Who's back."

"I'm not following."

"I can't say for sure, of course, but I think the two are connected. Somehow."

Ariadne pondered this as her and Hermione entered Professor Vector's classroom and took two seats in the front. Did You-Know-Who being back have something directly to do with Harry's sudden anger problem or was it the indirect fact of him being back causing people to turn against Harry that accounted for his temper?

* * *

><p><strong>Forlornhero:<strong> I'm not planning on going too far off canon. Obviously I'll have to a little bit since I'm adding Ariadne and her own subplots, but the major things are going to stay the same. Thank you for your review!


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